worm@work

HINT: Subtitulos ← >> The Spirit of the Beehive?

== Mildred Pearce?

What's Cooking? ? clue: while across the street they were eating homemade tortillas ←

Last night, my husband & me had the pleasure of dining at Cache, a private dinner club started by Ling & Hhlodesign from this very forum. An underground restaurant of sorts, every Sunday they host a communal table of 12 diners to a dinner revolving around a theme. Last night's dinner was aptly titled, "Yes, we're trying to kill you" as you'll see from the pictures/description below. We arrived a little early and had a chance to grab some pictures of Lorna in the kitchen and of the dining space before the rest of the guests arrived. We started with the signature Cache cocktail - a heady mix of fresh grapefruit juice, Vodka, Cointreau and bitters and nibbled on puff pastry topped with onions, parmigiano reggiano and chorizo (the picture was taken before it went into the oven. Once it came out, there was really no time to take a picture). The first course (and my favorite dish from the night) was bacon wrapped bacon - yes, you read that right. A big chunk of tender braised pork belly wrapped with bacon and baked. The crispy, salty bacon provided a great contrast to the soft, sweet pork belly and the dish had every flavor I could ever want in a dish. The bacon before it went into the oven: The final dish: The next course was a foie gras custard served with truffled wild mushrooms on crostini. While everyone else seemed to love the foie gras custard (with one guest making plans to build a swimming pool and fill it with the custard!), I was somehow least excited by this dish. I love foie as much for its texture as its flavor and I missed the texture I get when the foie is simply pan-seared instead. The truffled mushrooms on the other hand were delectable and were a really good accompaniment to the custard. Just when I thought I couldn't possibly eat any more animal fat, the duck confit pot pie arrived. The confit was housemade and had a complex musky flavor that was stronger than any duck confit I've had before. Topped with a perfectly flaky crust, this is the fanciest pot pie I've ever had! For dessert, we had creampuffs filled with homemade mint ice-cream and served with chocolate sauce. While I was wondering about the extra belly I seemed to have grown during the course of the meal, more temptation arrived in the form of hot-off-the-oven chocolate chip cookies! As anyone can see from the pictures, the food was wonderful and at least as good as most professional restaurants we've eaten at in Seattle. Henry & Lorna are great hosts and have managed to create an atmosphere that is professional and yet comfortable and inviting. What we enjoyed the most however was the company of the other guests. People brought some really interesting and even some hard-to-find wine to share and the conversation flowed easily as if we'd known each other for ages. There were some really experienced restaurant folks as well as just everyday food-lovers like us at the table and everyone seemed to get along just great. All in all, it was a really fun night and we really hope that Cache is able to retain both the quality of the food and the charm for a long time to come. Shalmanese (if you're reading this thread), it was really fun meeting you last night and we hope to hang out with you again soon. -w@w p.s. In the interest of full disclosure, I must add that we met Henry & Lorna a few months ago and have had the pleasure of dining with them on multiple occassions in the past. That being said, I received the same treatment as everyone else at the table and have tried my best to provide an unbiased review of the food.

Hi All, Am planning a birthday bash for my husband and am at a loss when it comes to deciding on a location. Basically, we'll probably be about 15-20 ppl. I am looking for a place that'll let me make reservations for a group this size and that serves alcohol. Food isn't terribly important but obviously it helps if the food is good as well. There are likely to be a few vegetarians in the group.. so some veggie options would help as well. I really want to try and avoid the Cheesecake Factories of the world but am unable to come up with any better ideas . Oh and finally, we prefer a place on the eastside coz its a weekday night and ppl are going to be coming directly from work, i.e. MSFT... any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance, w@w

Prashad by Jiggs Kalra and others is a book I've always had great success with. Here's an egullet amazon link http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/817...3/egulletcom-20 The recipes are rather involved and don't really work for a quick weeknight dinner but if one is always rewarded at the end . That perfect butter chicken recipe alone is worth the price of the book imo...it's fun realizing why a dish became so popular in the first place! -w@w

Here's a link to their website http://nimmypaul.com/ -w@w

I strongly recommend Nimmy Paul who teaches traditional Syrian Christian Cooking in Kerala. She and her husband are incredibly hospitable and she;s a wonderful teacher as well. -w@w

Yep, the theme was ostrich. I wasn't too excited about Chef Royal's dishes to be honest (burgers and satay seemed rather boring to me somehow and his plating wasn't terribly creative either imho) but all the judges seemed really impressed with the way everything tasted. I loved the idea of him mentoring a 12-year old. I don;t know how common this is but I was so impressed that he brought him along that i ended up rooting for him just for that. Bryan, I'd love to read the article. Can you post a link? -w@w

Just wanted to second what Pan said. I am hoping to make the shrimp kababs this weekend. They look like something I can handle despite my ignorance when it comes to Parsi food . Percy, I've tried both your Americanized Dhansak recipe as well as your recipe for Akhoori and we really enjoyed both. Thanks so much for posting such detailed recipes and photographs. -w@w

Blue Cheese and Walnuts...

Hi Milagai, Ah, so the edible diyas project is going forward after all . Here's what google turned up "Dragees are to be used as "decoration only" because, per the FDA, they contain trace amounts of metal (ie: silver). They are, however, considered non toxic. Although people do consume them in some parts of the world, we recommend you remove them before eating confections." Hope this helps. -w@w

Hi Rick, No major pointers on making the pakoras unfortunately . I just spice my batter with some ajwain, salt, chilli powder and powdered pomegranate seeds. Your menu sounds delectable... do post pictures if possible . -w@w

Hi All, We are planning our very first vacation in 4 years (I've been in a PhD program and too broke and too busy to go anyplace) and we've decided we're visiting Mexico this December. This is our very first trip and we really don't know much about the region and would really appreciate any recommendations you can give us. We are both pretty devoted to food although the husband is only interested in the consumption part of the experience. One of the things I'd really like to do is to attend a cooking class at Susana Trilling's cooking school in Oaxaca. Apart from that, we'd like to visit some ruins and also shop for local arts and crafts if possible. We also want to spend at least a couple of days in a beach that's relatively unspoilt and not touristy.. the icing on the cake would it be if we could also find good seafood there . Right now, we don't even know which cities we want to go to.. all we know is that we need to go to Oaxaca for my dream class! Like I said before, I would really appreciate any advice on cities to visit and places to eat in those cities! Thanks so much, -w@w

Hi Rick, I've experimented with making pakoras beforehand and reheating them and was somehow not satisfied with reheating them in the oven. The last couple of times I made pakoras for guests, I fried them lightly beforehand (till they turn slightly brown) and refried them in hot oil for just a couple of minutes before serving. This way, I am able to serve a reasonable number of pakoras in a short amount of time and I was really pleasantly surprised by how fresh/crisp they tasted. If you'd rather do fish than vegetables, then tandoori pomfret might be a good idea.. would go with the rest of your tandoori theme on the first course but still offer a good variation from the rest of the meat on the menu. You could do these beforehand on the grill and just reheat at the last minute. I agree with Milagai that I would have gone with a lighter vegetable than potatoes as well (Saag is a good suggestion or Bhindi masala perhaps?).. I doubt you'd need potatoes as a filler with this menu . In any case, good luck with your dinner and if you can, then do post pictures and let us know how it all went. -w@w